How does this year/tour stack up to previous years/tours in terms of the live shows and performances?

For reference-
(From livefootsteps.org)
1996 - 36 shows, 25 songs avg, 75 total unique songs
1998 - 67 shows, 24 songs avg, 120 total unique songs
2000 - 76 shows, 27 songs avg, 107 total unique songs
2003 - 77 shows, 27 songs avg, 152 total unique songs
2005 - 37 shows, 27 songs avg, 129 total unique songs
2006 - 83 shows, 26 songs avg, 164 total unique songs
2009 - 32 shows, 30 songs avg, 157 total unique songs
2010 - 28 shows, 24 songs avg, 126 total unique songs
2011 - 24 shows, 29 songs avg, 144 total unique songs
2012 - 18 shows, 26 songs avg, 120 total unique songs
2013 - 31 shows, 31 songs avg, 154 total unique songs

Numbers numbers numbers

I'd rather there be 60-70 unique songs, and have them all sound good, than 120+ different songs, half of which sound half assed

I think the shows are getting to be too long as well. Make me disappointed that this is the last song, instead being glad they're wrapping the show up.

I think you're just becoming a curmudgeonly old man chud

I agree with Chud.

Agreed.

If I were to change anything about Pearl Jam shows, I'd make them shorter and cut back on the variety: play the hits, most of the new album and a few well-rehearsed deep cuts. Done.

I'm in the best shape of my life. I can handle "An Evening With PearlbJam" type sets now. LOL.

I'm happy with 30 song sets.

That's basically what you are going to get when they do Big Day Out.

I'm happy with longer shows but I wish they'd play songs from every album at every show, even if it's just 1 per night for the less-loved albums (especially Binaural and Riot Act) and even if it's the same 2-3 at every show (Nothing As It Seems / Insignificance / Grievance / I Am Mine / Save You / Love Boat Captain / etc). Rather than give every show 1-2 unique songs they should just rehearse like 10 of them and play them more regularly throughout the tour.

And they need to fucking stop playing "Small Town" and "Why Go".

I'd be happy if they just cut out the covers from their setlists. The tags at the end of songs can stay, but what can be brought to Neil Young's Rockin' In The Free World or Fuckin' Up that hasn't been expressed dozens of times already? Besides, Ed's vocal style and Mike's guitar style do not really overlap with Neil's music.

Pearl Jam has more in common stylistically with The Who, and I actually like those covers, like The Real Me, The Kids Are Alright and Love Reign O'er Me, but if they have to go to rid us of RITFW and Little Wing and Crown of Thorns, then so be it.

You have an outstanding user name, 18th Pale Descendant.

Seconded!

Thanks. I'm coming over here from the PJ.com message boards, where I've been lurking for the most part. The new album, the fall tour, the bootleg broadcasts on Sirius . . . all of it has me fired up to talk Pearl Jam. Oh, and the Charlottesville show was a real treat. I'm fired up about that too.

My interest in the band seems to ebb and flow based on their tour cycles, but I'm sure that's true for many long-time fans. I trace my roots back to fall ’92 when I first got my hands on the Ten cassette as a 14-year-old. I've subsequently purchased Ten on CD (twice, counting reissue) and vinyl.

Perhaps my finest hour as a young collector was finding the bootleg Rare Jam at a record convention in the early ’90s. It has all the b-sides from the four Ten singles, the Singles soundtrack songs and a cover of the Beatles' I've Got A Feeling, which I guess appeared on Japanese versions of Ten.

I kinda miss the thrill of tracking down all the obscure non-album stuff. I hope the band is hoarding unreleased material for a Lost Dogs 2. It's been 10 years since LD, and we haven't seen a real b-side since Riot Act.

They really got to fix encore 2, it's become as predictable as tranny porn. You know there is gonna be alive, after alive comes two covers, they only suprise you with the opening track.

This post rocks

I'm a fan of 3+ hour shows if they're interesting, but PJ have become too predictable. The setlists for this recent tour showed some improvement over the recent past, but they still have a core set of songs that get overplayed (you know which ones I mean). Agree that the band's disdain for Binaural and Riot Act is mystifying. I keep thinking they're going to "rediscover" them in concert someday, but it sure hasn't happened so far.

And yeah, encore 2 should just be shitcanned completely. I can't remember the last time I stuck around for the entire thing; I'm always headed for the exits as soon as YB starts up for the ten millionth time, generally much sooner. I saw these guys play RITFW in 1992 for chrissakes. It's just not that great of a song 20+ years in. Perry Ferrel once compared touring to asking a painter to paint the exact same thing over and over. I have to imagine that PJ is just bored shitless with encore 2. I know I am.

Even at their most adventurous, PJ is surprisingly risk averse and conservative.

I think certain band members' limitations are to blame for that. And the fact that they don't like to rehearse and just bullshit their way through everything.

how much they rehearse is really the thing that makes a tour, 2003 for example, they were not ready after a long break to really hit Australia and it showed. 2005 and especiallly 2006 you can tell they rehearsed alot. 2008, which I enjoyed alot, was not well rehearsed at all, neither was 2009, but then in 2010 they sounded really good. 2011 you could tell they kinda half assed got ready for the pj 20 tour, and 2012 while they sounded good, the setlists and shows were just so past needing a influx of new tracks at this point.

It seems they spent a week in pittsburgh getting ready the for the fall tour, but I'll wait on my verdict till I finish leg 1 and hear leg 2.

you dont have to wait, im pretty sure there's an interview where they talked about rehearsing for the tour